"It made me love America at least five times as much as prior to that," he says.

But Saturday night, the world learned that golden voice had been silenced forever. Police are investigating whether Houston's death was from natural causes or something else.

"There was no obvious signs of any criminal intent at this point," says Beverly Hills Police Lieutenant Mark Rosen. "It's currently being investigated by Beverly Hills Police Detectives."

"That's very young, a tragedy. I feel sad," said Cait Chambers, one of many fans outside Georgetown's "Blues Alley" Saturday night, who reflected on a life cut short. "She should be a role model. An inspiration. Her music bringing people up. It's sad."

At her peak, Houston was the Golden Girl of the music industry. She ruled the radio waves from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, selling 170 million albums, singles and videos world-wide.

"She had the most beautiful voice. I loved listening to her," Hirschenbaum says.

But in recent years, her life had become a struggle. She confessed to abusing cocaine, marijuana and pills. Her pristine voice became raspy and hoarse, unable to hit those spine-tingling high notes.

Hirschenbaum said it was sad seeing what happened to her life.

"I think she was involved with the wrong people, unfortunately I think she tried to come back and the drugs overtook her life," Hirschenbaum said.